Top 25 birds of the week: Shorebirds!

Shorebirds is a blanket term used to refer to multiple bird species that live in wet, coastal environments. Because most these species spend much of their time near bodies of water, many have long legs suitable for wading. Some species prefer places with rocks or mud. Many shorebirds display migratory patterns and often migrate before breeding season. These behaviors explain the long wing lengths observed in most species, and can also account for the efficient metabolisms that give the birds energy during long migrations.

Thank you to all the photographers that submitted photos of birds with the theme #shorebirds. We admire birds for their beauty and their ability to fly and most importantly for the role they play in the ecosystem. These pictures create awareness about the variety and beauty of birds in our environment. Here we present the Top 25 photographs of birds of the week.

Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola). Photographed in Mangalajodi, Odisha, India (Gargi Biswas)

Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola). Photographed in Udaipur, India (Mayank Vaishnav)

Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus). Photographed at the Fraser Gunj beach, West Bengal, India (Avijit Dutta)

Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius). Photographed in Silver Spring, MD, USA (Dan Treadwell)

Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus) Photographed at Paratwada, Maharashtra, India (Ranjeet Chitrakar)

Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus). Photographed in Dollard Termunten, The Netherlands (Michelle da Costa Gomez)

Ruff (Calidris pugnax). Photographed at the Dhanauri Wetlands in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India (Sibananda Bhanja)

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpress). Photographed in Kundapura, Karnataka, India (Prabhakar T P)

Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta). Photographed in Mangalajodi, Odisha, India (Gargi Biswas)

Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis) in Mangalajodi, Odisha, India (Gargi Biswas)

Little Stint (Calidris minuta). Photographed in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India (Reitesh Khabia)

Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius). Photographed in Paratwada, Maharashtra, India (Ranjeet Chitrakar)

Lesser Flamingo (Phoenicoparrus minor). Photographed in Mithapur, Gujarat, India (Chirag Parmar)

Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola). Photographed in Udupi, Karnataka, India (Sanjay Sawant)

Greater Painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis). Photographed in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India (Reitesh Khabia)

Eurasian Spoonbill (Platelea leucorodia). Photogrphed in Paratwada, Maharashtra, India (Ranjeet Chitrakar)

Eurasian Curlew (Nemenius arquata). Photographed at Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, India (Bratin Bhattacharya)

Eurasian Curlew (Nemenius arquata). Photographed at the Zuari River bank, Goa (Vidya Vijay Kulkarni)

Crab Plover (Dromas ardeola). Photographed in Udupi, Karnataka, India (Sanjay Sawant)

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago). Photographed in Konya, Turkey (Zafer Teki̇n)

Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia). Photographed in Ullal, Mangalore, Karnataka, India (Zameer Pasha Junaidi)

Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia). Photographed at the Surajpur Wetlands, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India (Prasenjit Sinha)

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica). Photographed in Pulicat, Tamil Nadu, India (Moulie G J C)

Asian Openbill (Anastomus ascitans). Photographed in Paratwada, Maharashtra, India (Ranjeet Chitrakar)

Crab Plover (Dromas ardeola), Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) and Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola). Photographed in Udupi, Karnataka, India (Sanjay Sawant)

Our mission is to build a global community around the freedom and beauty of birds in the wild as ambassadors for the natural ecosystems that they depend upon. They are the music, decoration, and character of every terrestrial habitat on the planet and have been around since the dinosaurs. They are the witnesses and ambassadors of the awesome power of nature. The wide availability of good, cheap optics has opened their world to us for the last few decades. Amazing, affordable DSLR cameras with long lenses are delivering brilliant digital bird imagery to online communities. We are in a day-and-age during which more bird species are threatened with extinction than ever before. The Wild Birds! Revolution aims to publish the “Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week” to 1 million people every week by the end of the year. That is a revolution that will change the world! Join thousands of other weekend naturalists, photographers, birders, experts, hikers, nature-lovers, guides, scientists, conservationists and artists that share the thousands of wild bird photographs submitted to the Wild Bird Trust website and Facebook page. Thousands of wild bird enthusiasts are going out every day to photograph our planet’s beautiful birdlife. Pick up your camera, fill your bird feeder, open your heart, and join the Wild Birds! Revolution!!

Edited by Abigail Ramudzuli, Campaign Manager